Does this world have infections? Does having a varied diet matter? Can he have a heart attack? Scott thought over the many nuances of the world he came from and wondered how they translated into a world with magic and stats. It at least kept him occupied from the constant anxiety induced by the surrounding trees swaying and shifting, spear gripped tightly in his hands. The big question, the one he couldn't possibly find the answer to at this moment, was the ecology of the island. Stealth seems to be the primary mode that most creatures on this island operate on... including that creature that had attacked him last evening. Was that beast nocturnal? Diurnal? Crepuscular? Was the watering hole that Scott found the only fresh water source on the island? If so, how heavy is competition for a space at the brook? Mentally storing these questions away, Scott rolled his neck and slowly strode to the edge of the clearing where the freshwater spring was found. Everything seemed quiet enough... there was still shifting in the bushes and the ambient hum of insects going about their day, but aside from that, quiet. Scott strode up to the water and took a deep drink.
Status lost: Thirst
Relief. He looked up at the sky, assessing the sun's position. "It's the middle of the day... I'll have to keep an eye out for the position of the sun when I re-gain that Thirst status." Suddenly, a rustling came from the bushes. It wasn't an usual sound, but it immediately caused Scott to tense up and point out his spear. He needed to break his habit of speaking to himself. Soon. Trying a different strategy from last time, he stood still and waited for whatever made the noise to make the first move.
...
Just have to have some patience. Surely it wouldn't make noise stalking him or sneaking up and then silently go away? Or had something come and gone already?
...nothing. One step. Then another. Slowly, Scott retreated into the treeline away from the noise. Even though it came in the direction he came from originally. He could circle around if he needed to. It seemed like he was safe... and then he heard a growl.
Activated: Dilation
Was that too soon? He cursed his anxiety and then focused. That weird canine-feline hybrid had dark green fur... he just had to find it in the brush. His eyes scanned... there's too much foliage. The skill's going to wear off too soon. Then Scott spotted a shifting bush, with small yellow orbs moving through it. Those weren't shia berries. He knew that he wasn't getting away a second time, not with his leg being what it was and the brush crowding the environment. He dropped to one knee and braced himself as time sped up around him, ready to raise his spear, expecting the pounce... hopefully this creature would assume Scott was hiding or exhausted. And sure enough, it did.
A mass of shaggy dark green fur came lunging out from the bush, those faux-berry eyes with thin slits running down them and a muzzle extending half a foot in front of the rest of his head. Scott lifted the spear, pointing straight in front of him as the beast flew through the air, mouth fully catching on the makeshift weapon like a fish being hooked. The beast shuddered to a halt as it landed with the spear snapped in it's mouth from the landing. It backed off the spear while Scott pulled his second spear from his pockets, the beast coughing up blood from the gash in it's mouth. Scott couldn't afford to waste the opening, even if he had no idea what he was doing. He plunged the makeshift spear towards the creature's back, only for it to jerk to the side as it failed to fully penetrate. Still, it gave the creature a nasty cut to match Scott's own. "Take that you bastard!". Clearly that sent the message, and the beast fell back. The adrenaline pumping through his veins insisted that Scott pursue his enemy, to push the advantage, but rational thought prevailed. He was lucky that the creature was retreating. If it has any intelligence, it won't fall for Scott's defensive bracing strategy again. But, for now, preparation paid off. Hoping that no more of those things were nearby, Scott took the moment to catch his breath. If this source of water was going to be a fight every time, he couldn't afford to come here every day... but he hadn't found any other freshwater on the island. For all he knew, this was it. He could follow the brook, but that was just shifting the problem slightly to the side. It was still the same area. He needed to find some way to gather and save some water here... but he had no idea how. Stupidly, he had left his knapped knife back at the shore with the other two spears.
Scott decided to walk in a circle around the spring, searching the nearby trees and brush for anything he could use for now. He hoped that this would yield some fruit of some kind that he could use as both food and a temporary cup to hollow out, but he had no such luck. If he had more time, maybe he could try to weave some sort of basket and find a way to make it hold water... but that wasn't an option. He couldn't remain in the forest for that long. There was some deposits of what looked like clay near the brook, but doesn't that need to be fired? Would he even be able to pull that off?
In the end, nothing seemed viable for the moment. He'd have to come back after figuring something out back at the shore. Scott kneeled down to the water one last time and drank as much as he could get himself to swallow. The sun still being pretty squarely overhead, he hoped this wouldn't throw off his whole thirst-status-measurement test. Either way, it was time to head back.
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"Let's see here..."
Scott had returned to where the two spears and his stone knife lay planted in the sand near the shore. It was time to start figuring out some gear. First order of business was getting the stone knife sharper. It was far too crude and uneven to get done quickly, so the time invested would be worth it. Even if the result ended up still being akin to a dull butter knife, that'd be a step up from "rock that has a bit of an edge". So work began.
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The sun was starting to hover over the horizon, and Scott sat with his back to the light as he reviewed his progress. He had managed to get the stone knife to the point where it could actually cut something if pressure was applied, which he had used to get some plant fiber from the brush near the shore. It wasn't the vines he was hoping he would dig up, but any cord would do. Scott was glad that he watched so many survival-from-scratch videos online instead of getting work done now. Most of it was still pretty useless in the long run, having assumed anyone being around to save you or having hiking equipment, but even knowing how to get something akin to a thin rope made was going to help immensely. He felt bad for the poor tree he had mutilated near the shore, but this would be extremely utilitarian. Along with this, he had knapped multiple rocks to have crude points and cut some notches into some branches they would fit in, then tied the stones down into it to make some sturdier, slightly more dangerous spears. All that was left was to get some sort of water container. Honestly surprised that he remembered this at all, one of the more interesting techniques from all those survival videos was making a cup out of a thick branch or log. He definitely didn't have a log to work with, but he took one of the former club candidates he had found and set it to the side. The problem was this: the next step was making a fire. Embarrassingly enough, for all those survivalists he had listened to, and for having been a scout as a kid, he could barely remember any techniques for fire starting. It was such a common and essential part of the whole survival knowledge kit that nobody ever really talked about it in videos, and he never paid any super close attention as a kid. It needed small dry sticks and leaves, he remembered that much. The small stuff would catch fire more easily... or be good fuel... or something like that. Eventually, he stood before a pile of sticks sitting on top of stray leaves, dead grass from where the sand met the soil, and tiny branches.
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Now what?
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The sun had set awhile back, and Scott was losing hope quickly. He could barely see what he was doing, and was starting to become exhausted. His hunger wasn't helping at all either... he hadn't eaten all day. But even thinking about forcing those berries down his throat made his stomach lurch.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Now was not the time to start losing focus. Fire. He needed to make some sort of water storage. He needed it if he was going to explore the woods for other food tomorrow. He knelt back down at his pile and furiously rubbed the two sticks he was using together, giving it every last bit of energy he had. His muscles were screaming, his eyelids were drooping, his stomach protested at all the activity while it was empty, but he kept at it. He needed this to work. That was the plan. He needed to stick to it.
Suddenly, a flicker was spotted in the pile of dry grass. Scott paused, staring in desperation. "Please. Please work." Slowly, the light began to spread. First the pile of kindling began to glow, then one stick would catch, then two. After hours, he finally had it.
Status obtained: Fire's Warmth
He could figure out what that did later. Scott had to capitalize on what energy he had left to use this fire. The steps from here was pretty simple, but he couldn't afford to screw it up. You take a chunky bit of wood, set it level on the ground, and then set some charcoal from the fire in the center, It wasn't a fire, just a hot coal, so it would burn at the edges of the wood. When it burns out, you dump it out, clean out the inside, and repeat until you have a cup. Make sure it doesn't catch fire, and you were golden.
Wait, how was he supposed to get the coals onto the wood without searing his hands?
In the end, he settled for picking up the coal with two sticks like chopsticks. He had to quickly shove the sticks into the sand to keep them from burning down, and he lost more than a couple coals fumbling around, but it worked.
Skill up:
Crafter II
Further increases general proficiency and lowers failure rate. Some general recipes gained.
Now that, he could appreciate. He could feel ideas coming in, points where he had screwed up previously in his endeavors becoming clear. There was plenty blank spots, but this could be a godsend if he kept leveling it up like this. Focusing back on the cup, he finalized the design by whittling two holes to loop a plant fiber cord through to hold it by. It took most of the plant fiber he had gathered from the brush in the area, but he had a handy little canteen he could rest at his side. He was ready for tomorrow. Scott checked his status one last time before drifting to sleep in the sand.
Name: Scott Lvl: 1 HP: 6/12 MP: 0/1 Str: 7 Int: 10 Dex: 14 Wil: 6 Con: 12 Mag: 0 Status: Hunger, Fire's Warmth
Hunger: You need to eat something to sustain yourself. Will develop into Starvation after: 23 hours, 12 minutes
Fire's Warmth: You're near a warm campfire. HP from resting +1, Cold Resist +2
He would need to get better at making fires, it seemed. For now, he let sleep come on.
He tossed and turned all night, plagued with nightmares of canine-panthers stalking him from the bushes.